Significance of GPA Improvement

Transfer Students
1

<p>First, the background information: I am currently a sophomore in community college, but I completed my freshman year at a "US News Top 20" (oo-la-la) research university. It is incredibly to difficult to get an A at the school and that difficulty coupled with the fact that I was very unhappy there for a variety of other reasons made things harder than they likely had to be, but I managed to pull through first semester with a 3.25 GPA and earned a 3.5 for second semester. I have just completed my first semester of community college--earned a 4.0.</p>

<p>I am in the process of applying to a couple of competitive LACs and my question is this: is the GPA improvement significant in the eyes of admissions officers or is it just kind of like "meh, 4.0 at community college is expected?"
FYI: This is not my perception of how a CC GPA is viewed...my reason for creating this thread has to do with the fact that when I informed my parents of the grades I received this semester, one of them uttered the words I quoted above verbatim. I put a lot of work into my classes and my academic efforts in general because I'm truly passionate about the subjects I explore and it was a bit of a blow to hear that coming from them.</p>

2

<p>I don’t think it’s a GPA improvement. Going from a 3.3 GPA to a 4.0 GPA isn’t magic; it’s because community college is far easier grading-wise.</p>

<p>By the way, why did you transfer to a community college? Do you think it was a smart idea to downgrade for a 4.0, or were you really that unhappy at your top 20?</p>

3

<p>@amoryr I did the same thing. I transfered from a University to a CC and I have noticed that my GPA has improved a little. My University GPA wasn’t anything to being with but when I started taking classes at my CC I started doing a lot better. The only reason I went to a CC was becuase I moved back to the US from living on a military base overseas. Since then I’ve switched back to my University only because it’s a lot quicker for me and I can actually get the classes that I need there instead at the CC.</p>